Suicide by Emile Durkeim

That is the title of the first book we're reading in Core. I wonder if it's a foreshadowing of how the semester will end because this class BLOWSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

Here's a thing about Oglethorpe that makes the curriculum so.... "unique," as the administrators put it. We have a set of classes called the Core classes. Not core as in your basic Math, English, History-type set of classes. They literally are called 'Core.' You take one every semester, every year (except 1 semester senior year). The main intent of the Core classes are to further emphasize the liberal arts-ishness of Oglethorpe. To quote the Course Directory, "...this core came to focus on those courses representing competencies that a well-educated generalist ought to have upon graduating from college." Basically, it's just a whole bunch of reading old books by those philosophers with the crazy white hair and then writing lots and lots of papers about them.

Core 101 and 102 are called 'Narratives of the Self,' geared towards freshman year.

Core 201 and 202 are 'Human Nature and the Social Order,' in chronological order, this would be intended for sophomore year. This is the one I'm in because my advisor screwed me over with Core and put me behind a year... [meaning I could have taken 202 and 203 in the 08-09 school year, but didn't because my advisor didn't advise me about what the whole Core curriculum was and I had no clue I even needed them.]

301/302 are Historical Perspectives on the Social Order. 401 is the science Core, Science and Human Nature: Biological Sciences or Physical Sciences. There's also a math Core called Great Ideas of Modern Mathematics (which I took last semester) and a Fine Arts Core, either Art and Culture or Music and Culture, which I've already taken as well.

When I transferred to Oglethorpe, Core hadn't really been thoroughly explained to me and I was just going with the flow at the time so I didn't pursue to question it. My feeble credits let me slide by and get exempted from 101 and 102, so at least we got that going for us... I took 201 in the first session of summer last year, so now I'm in 202. And I'm kind of anxious about it. Summer classes, generally, are more lax and lenient than regular semester classes, granted the amount of material that is to be covered is intensified and squeezed in to a 5 week slot. I found it to be much more enjoyable. Core over the summer was awesome. We had 2 tests and a final (essay format, but that's no big deal because we got the questions a few days before the test was given) and only 1 paper to write [another thing that is pretty typical of Core is that it is VERRRRRY writing intensive. Many classes I hear rumors about write 7-10 papers per semester]. So I figured I lucked up when I got the professor I have because there aren't any writing assignments. :] Except she's apparently shaking up her curriculum this semester and throwing in oral presentations, which make me want to vomit with nerves just thinking about it. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Anyway, so this is my very first regular semester Core class so... we'll just have to see how that goes. [first assignment, ready 80 pages of that Suicide book... if I'm feeling frisky, I may try to dub in some extra credit and write up how I plan to do it by the end of the semester..]

kidding.

And Bio is going to be pretty sucky too, it looks like. It makes me miss the professor I had last semester because at least he had his notes and stuff organized into neat little outlines... Not this time around.

But we'll make it work. somehow...